Lesson 6/8/14 - Tater Tot and Gali

Yesterday was one of those days.  The kind of day where everybody is running late, everyone is forgetting things, and the horses all have their heads in the clouds.

Tater says "I'm tall!"

The day started with Nicole and I teaching lessons to this very sweet couple.  We used Gali and Acorn, and they were primarily walk lessons with a tiny bit of trot towards the end.  Of course, Gali decided to give this first time rider a nice canter,"because it's fun, ma! look how nice I can canter for this guy! and he's new!", but otherwise, the boys were well behaved.

The next lesson, though, was with a woman on our new pony, Tater.  Tater Tot has been a great addition to our lesson program, but he had something on his mind yesterday, and all he wanted to do was throw his head in the air and run around like a giraffe.  He broke the cross ties twice and was just generally in a mood. Nicole asked me to ride him before my Gali ride, and I gladly agreed to.  He was a good boy, but it takes a lot of work to get him round and up through his back. I do think with some more muscling and a little more education, he'll turn into a nice dressage mount for the kids.  We even  worked a little bit on trailer loading, and despite his initial hesitation, he was quickly loading himself and standing very well.

Most adorable pony.

Gali, on the other hand, was a beast for my ride.  He was trying hard, but at the same time, completely blowing off my outside aids going to the left. Our T2 test is ready to go, and I think he's going to score better than last year, but 1-1 is going to be tough. We did most of the work we need for our 1-1 test yesterday, and if he's in a fighting mood, it's going to be a hard test.  We didn't have 15m canter circles to the left.  Just simply didn't have them.  I couldn't get him much smaller than 18m, and that isn't going to cut it.  However, after my (only ~20 minute) lesson, he gave a stretchy/long and low lesson to a younger girl at the barn, and she was able to get him to relax about everything.

I think it was one of those rides where he and I were both frustrated at each other - him at me for not helping him move his right shoulder over, and me at him for being such a bulldozer about it, when I know if he put in a little more effort we'd be okay.  He'll have off today, because it's pouring rain, and tomorrow I have another lesson.  Still planning on showing Acorn and Gali on Satuday, so, fingers crossed.